Essay Draft Three
Jascha Pan
May 23, 2007
Draft Three
He Could Have Done a Better Job
Culture and beliefs of Nigeria in the twentieth century might be uncivilized, but they are not inferior. The living condition there might be poor, but people there have their own faith.
In Chinua Achebe's short story, "Dead Man's Path," Michael Obi, appointed headmaster of Ndume Central School in Nigeria, wanted things to be perfect for the first visit of his supervisor. Michael Obi built his garden across the ancestor path of the natives and blocked the entrance to the local grave. The supervisor came to evaluate him on the day that the garden had been ruined by the natives. It is a great shame. If Michael Obi had a little more patience, a bit more communication with the local people, got to know what and why they need, told they what can do good to their life, I think the results might not be a severe conflict.
At the beginning, an ambitious young man with an advanced mind can be seen in the story. He was so energetic and enthusiastic that ‘he had many wonderful ideas and this was an opportunity to put them into practice’(52) and there are odds that the social circumstances there might be improved greatly as a result of his revolution, but things don’t always happen according to what people hope.
The conflict is not what people are willing to see, but it still happened, and let’s see how Michael Obi’s bad approach in imposing modernization resulted in the final conflict. First, the thought that the culture and beliefs there are inferior and barbaric was so deeply rooted in his mind that he believed that everything should be effaced and replaced with a modern one. The author even said that ‘his denigration of “these old and superannuated people in the teaching field who would be better employed as traders in the Onitsha market.”’(52), and the truth was somehow distorted in his mind. If he had an objective mind and a calm attitude towards the local culture, then he would know what the proper way to implement his plan.
Second, he refused to make communication with the local people, which I think is the main reason that resulted in the severe conflict eventually. During the conversation with one of his teachers, which was a precious opportunity, he was quite stubborn. The teacher told him that ‘The path appears to be very important to them’ (53), but he considered the path has nothing to do with the school. And thus ‘Heavy sticks were planted closely across the path.’(54) There was a chance for Michael to communicate but he wasted it.
But still he had a second chance. He had a conversation with village priest Ani, but he did not cherish it at all. He said very strict words:’ the whole purpose of our school is to eradicate just such beliefs. Dead men do not require footpaths. The whole idea is just fantastic. Our duty is to teach your children to laugh at such ideas.’(54) This time the conversation not only sharpened it, but also is the fuse of the conflict eventually.
If he could make full use of the opportunities to communicate with one of his teachers and the local priest and learn to understand what they said about importance of path, maybe the conflict would not be so violent.
Why he refused to communicate, despised the culture and beliefs? It is because that he thought the uncivilized culture was nonsense and useless, and the tradition and modernization are incompatible, but actually, the culture and the beliefs are so significant to the natives because they are the greatest treasure inherited from their ancestors. No one has the rights to eradicate their culture and beliefs. In addition, we need our cultures to be diversed and colorful, so it is a duty of people in the world to protect those cultures suffered from the threat of extinction. If cultures of the world can develop in a harmonious way, something should be done to protect them. Diversity means prosperity.
He’s arrogant thought that the modernization and tradition were incompatible led him to the extreme. However, as far as I concerned, tradition and modernization are compatible and even they supplement each other and both thrive.
Tradition is the base which modernization relies on. People living in a particular region will form some certain kind of custom and living habit. With the time elapsed, they form their own culture and inherit the tradition generation by generation. With the modernization of the world, people’s own culture should not be forgotten, because modernization relies on the tradition. Without the tradition, people do not know what they want, what they should do and where they came from. There is a saying that those who forget the tradition are doomed to betray. If tradition is put in our mind, the modernization will surely comply with the tradition and even serve to the modernization. For example, all Chinese people learn the ideas of the Confucius which are the pith of Chinese culture in their childhood, and nowadays, these ideas are still helpful in the cultivation of a person's personality, and also they can direct the way of modernization.
Without modernization, our society would not progress and even go backward. Tradition is the spirit of the society, gives people belief and living habit, but if we just keep to it without any creation, it would be obsolete and thus the tradition will hamper the advancement of our society. With the industrialization, living condition has been so improved; with the urbanization, life becomes pretty convenient and colorful; with the democratization, society is just; with the globalization, communication becomes so easy. It is the result of modernization that makes people live in a so wonderful world and live a happy life.
Tradition and modernization are not incompatible and exclusive to each other. And also people don't need to choose one between them and abandon the other. What people should do is to go on with our modernization while keeping to the tradition. If Michael Obi could keep the tradition and modernization in balance and make more communication with the local people, there would not be a tragedy.